non-metaphysical stephen

Back in August I wrote some observations and concerns about Ezra’s decree that the people of Israel put away their foreign wives.

Today, while working on a book review, I read an article about that same passage and how it relates to modern African-American readers. The article, “Reflections in an Interethnic/racial Era on Interethnic/racial Marriage in Ezra” by Cheryl B. Anderson, outlines the ways in which the text claims to be about religious purity but in fact promotes cultural divisions along racial, class and gender lines.

Anderson states that Ezra’s emphasis on genealogical purity is actually more severe than earlier Hebrew restrictions on group membership, since earlier texts focused on ritual and/or moral purity, both of which are more amenable than Ezra’s position towards the inclusion of non-Hebrews. Anderson also argues that the decree exacerbated class differences, many of which come to a crisis during the time of Nehemiah. Similarly, she notes the asymmetry of the divorce ban–it affects wives more than husbands; Anderson connects this problem with a more widespread use of “women as Other” throughout the scriptures.

It’s nice to see that I wasn’t off track in my concerns about the implications of the text.

At the same time, Anderson demonstrates the parallels between Ezra’s decree and the anti-miscegenation laws in the United States, many of which were defended by theological arguments that deflected attention from the racial, class and gender problems that accompanied them. Thus, she claims, black readers have good reason to identify more with the divorced wives than with Ezra and his followers. If this is so, then modern readings of the texts need to pay attention to these issues lest they reinscribe the problems we have tried so hard to overcome.

Hmm, didn’t Jesus have a parable about this kind of situation?

Judge blasts bad bank, erases 525G debt - NYPOST.com.

Suffolk Judge Jeffrey Spinner wiped out $525,000 in mortgage payments demanded by a California bank, blasting its “harsh, repugnant, shocking and repulsive” acts.

The bombshell decision leaves Diane Yano-Horoski and her husband, Greg Horoski, owing absolutely no money on their ranch house in East Patchogue.

Spinner pulled no punches as he smacked down the bankers at OneWest — who took an $814.2 million federal bailout but have a record of coldbloodedly foreclosing on any homeowner owing money.

It seems to me (from my layman’s perspective) that what Michel de Certeau describes in his Practice of Everyday Life is what’s happening here with the banking industry and the bailout: The banks aren’t interested in reform; they’re interested in weathering the storm and preserving their profits and their power. Unless they are forced to make radical changes to their policies, they’ll make only superficial alterations–just enough to get them through this recession, like using duct tape on old pipes.

And for some reason, churches aren’t active enough in calling these folks out. Probably because we rely too much on them, both in terms of church investments and in terms of having them as members/tithers.

Archbishop of Canterbury: Repent, bankers

Anglican spiritual leader fears financial industry has not changed

Archbishop Rowan Williams, spiritual leader of the global Anglican Communion, said in an interview Tuesday that he senses a feeling of “diffused resentment” against bankers for failing to accept responsibility and that the government should act to cap bonus payments.

“There hasn’t been a feeling of closure about what happened last year,” Williams said in an interview on BBC television.

“There hasn’t been what I would, as a Christian, call repentance. We haven’t heard people saying ‘well actually, no, we got it wrong and the whole fundamental principle on which we worked was unreal, was empty.’”

Today’s sermon was on the Epistle reading: Ephesians 4.25-5.2:

Therefore, having put away falsehood, let each one of you speak the truth with his neighbor, for we are members one of another. Be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil. Let the thief no longer steal, but rather let him labor, doing honest work with his own hands, so that he may have something to share with anyone in need. Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, by whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

Lots of food for thought in the passage (and in the sermon!), but (our pastor) Bob’s discussion of one verse in particular really jumped out at me: (more…)

From today’s reading:

Passage: nehemiah 5 ESV Bible Online.

When I read this passage, I thought of the way so many of us today are trapped and abused by our employers, our bankers, our credit card and insurance brokers:

I took counsel with myself, and I brought charges against the nobles and the officials. I said to them, “You are exacting interest, each from his brother.”

And I held a great assembly against them and said to them, “We, as far as we are able, have bought back our Jewish brothers who have been sold to the nations, but you even sell your brothers that they may be sold to us!”

They were silent and could not find a word to say. So I said, “The thing that you are doing is not good. Ought you not to walk in the fear of our God to prevent the taunts of the nations our enemies? Moreover, I and my brothers and my servants are lending them money and grain. Let us abandon this exacting of interest. Return to them this very day their fields, their vineyards, their olive orchards, and their houses, and the percentage of money, grain, wine, and oil that you have been exacting from them.”

It is not good that we should profit at the expense of others. May God show us how to prosper by treating one another fairly, with compassion and generosity, and may God use us to testify to the world of the ways of God. Amen.

I love reading stories like this one:

LA priest’s mission: Saving flock from foreclosure

CHRISTINA HOAG, AP

A priest’s typical mission is saving souls, but the Rev. John Lasseigne has a more down-to-earth goal — saving homes.

That’s like trying to work a miracle in Lasseigne’s Roman Catholic parish of Pacoima, a blue-collar corner of the San Fernando Valley where bank sale signs sprout faster than weeds. One in nine homes is in default, making it one of the nation’s hardest hit towns in the foreclosure crisis.

“We’re talking thousands of foreclosures,” said the 44-year-old priest at Mary Immaculate Church. “I was stunned.”

Lasseigne has gone from praying for parishioners to lobbying politicians and negotiating with lenders on their behalf. His daily discourse is as likely to include talk of balloon payments and negative amortization as Hail Marys and The Lord’s Prayer. Meetings with banks rather than bishops fill his agenda.

It’s great to see clergy members taking their ministries from the sanctuary out into the world:

“Works of justice are an integral part of the priesthood,” the lanky priest said. “We have to take stands in aiding the needy and denouncing the injustices of society. The financial entrapment that was part of this was unbelievable.”

It reminds me of one of my pastor’s favorite sayings: We have been raised for such a time as this–Rev. Lasseigne certainly seems to have been:

Still, delving into the fine print of mortgage finance may seem highly unusual for someone who will probably never have to worry about buying his own house. Lasseigne, however, is well qualified. Before entering the seminary, he graduated from law school and knew how to read contracts.

That knowledge, a passion for social justice and a priest’s role — in a parish so devout that two Masses are said daily and nine on Sunday, all but one in Spanish — have made him the foreclosure-fighting father.

May God bless his work and make him fruitful. And may God raise up more clergy to fight for the rights of their parishioners against the practices of companies that would take advantage of the weak. Amen!

When I was in Athens, I noticed that the supermarkets in the less-wealthy neighborhoods had noticably fewer options regarding healthy food. If I wanted something as simple as lo-fat cheese, I could find it at the Publix and the Kroger but not at the Bi-Lo. And even then, the healthier food was pricier.

A new study by the US Dept. of Ag confirms this phenomenon: Gross inequality in access to healthy food | theGrio.

According to the report, 2.3 million Americans live more than a mile from a supermarket and do not have access to a vehicle. While this number might seem small, this number should ring some alarms, as the report goes on to say that the “urban core areas with limited food access are characterized by higher levels of racial segregation and greater income inequality.” People of color and low income communities are the ones most affected by America’s food crisis, and in the current economic downturn, this is not something to turn a blind eye to.

May God have mercy on the poor and raise up people to address and change the situation.

There’s an interesting piece over at Time Magazine about the Pope’s recent comments on economics: The Pope on Capitalism: Encyclical ‘Charity in Truth’ - TIME.

I’m glad to see comments like this coming from one of Christianity’s major leaders:

Benedict denounces the modern corporate business model, taking on the global Wall Street and its super bonuses, which lead to financial speculation and labor outsourcing. “In recent years, a new cosmopolitan class of managers has emerged, who are often answerable only to the shareholders generally consisting of anonymous funds which de facto determine their remuneration,” he writes. “Profit is useful if it serves as a means toward an end. Once profit becomes the exclusive goal, if it is produced by improper means and without the common good as its ultimate end, it risks destroying wealth and creating poverty.”

But I’m curious to see how the “capitalism is God’s will” crowd will react to this revelation (emphases mine):

Indeed, according to Stefano Zamagni, an economics professor who was a consultant on the encyclical, Benedict believes that capitalism as such is now effectively “obsolete” and must be replaced by a new form of market economy whose driving force is not the maximization of profits.

“Capitalism is an old idea, where the market was supposedly morally neutral … where efficiency becomes an ethos,” said Zamagni during the presentation of the document in the Vatican press office on Tuesday. “This encyclical aims to overcome a dichotomy that characterized the 20th century between the economic and social spheres. If we can instead incorporate the idea of the social element into the economy, the market itself becomes a force for civility.”

I don’t know a lot about economics, and I’m certainly guilty of making Adam Smith into scripture (even before I had read him). But I’ve realized that capitalism is not really a biblical concept and may in fact be opposed to the spirit of Christianity.

May God continue to raise up leaders for the church who can point us towards a more biblical understanding of economics. Amen.

Today’s scripture readings from the ESV Daily Reading Bible are an interesting juxtaposition. The Hebrew text describes Babylon’s conquest of Judah under Nebuchadnezzar, while the Christian text describes the promised fall of Babylon the Whore.

It’s interesting to see these two texts side-by-side since God used the Babylonians to punish the faithless people of Israel, only to punish them later for their own sins and then to allow the name of Babylon to be forever linked with the worst excesses of human depravity. (While researching my dissertation, I learned that the Babylonian exile was not the worst experience the Hebrews faced–they may have had even harsher lives under later rulers–yet Babylon remains the symbol of unrighteousness.) God may not be the God of the Babylonians, but they are certainly under God’s power. Yet how strange it is that God would choose a people like this–a people destined for their own judgment–to act as agents of spiritual justice. How easy it is to forget that the God of the universe has authority to raise up and utilize all nations–and not only the just ones!

The passage from Revelation is also interesting for its stress on economics as a temptation to sin. It’s not just the kings who mourn the fall of Babylon–it’s also the merchants and the seafarers who have made their riches off of selling luxury items. Consider the list of goods mentioned in the text:

…no one buys their cargo anymore, cargo of gold, silver, jewels, pearls, fine linen, purple cloth, silk, scarlet cloth, all kinds of scented wood, all kinds of articles of ivory, all kinds of articles of costly wood, bronze, iron and marble, cinnamon, spice, incense, myrrh, frankincense, wine, oil, fine flour, wheat, cattle and sheep, horses and chariots, and slaves, that is, human souls.

We get the picture of men and women who used material goods not for sustenance and/or for generosity and charity, but to make themselves wealthy–probably marketing to the extremely wealthy who can waste money on the most expensive, impressive, unnecessary goods.

I wonder how much John’s depiction of the economics of Babylon matches up with our modern culture. What sins do we accrue against ourselves through our economic values and policies. Are we as tied in to luxurious living as the Babylonians and the merchants and seafarers who lived off of them? Is our emphasis upon economic power an obstacle to our spiritual health? Are we bringing judgment upon ourselves by our posh lifestyles?

I’ve been involved in a discussion on GCN about Christians and money, and I was reminded of Jacques Ellul’s discussion of wealth as one of the 6 powers that govern the world according to the New Testament. Here are the relevant passages, taken from Chap. 9 of Ellul’s The Subversion of Christianity:

The Bible refers to six evil powers: Mammon, the prince of this world, the prince of lies, Satan, the devil, and death. This is enough. Concerning these six, one might remark that if we compare them we find that they are all characterized by their functions: money, power, deception, accusation, division, and destruction.

[...] The same applies to money. Once we have demonstrated the mechanisms and explained finance and the economy, there is a strange irreducible residue. Why is money so seductive? Here again we have an exousia, which Jesus personalizes by calling it Mammon, the Mammon of wickedness. As for Paul, his warning is clear: It is not against flesh and blood that you have to fight, but against thrones, powers, dominions, authorities (exousiai), against the princes of this world of darkness, against wicked spirits that dwell in heavenly places (this last feature is the strangest of all).

[...] Mammon is money imposing itself as a law of relationship: exchange, buying and selling, nothing for nothing, everything to be bought and sold. This is integrally and totally contrary to grace (see L’Homme et I’Argent). The spirit of it has made its way into the church, where sometimes grace has been put on sale, or the church has become a center of rapine and self‑enrichment, or (like the French Reformed Church today) it is so obsessed with its financial problems that all its other concerns and functions take second place. In a hundred ways money has effectively corrupted the church. But what we see here is not just the world of money itself or our subjective desire for it. It is in truth a demonic power that has given money the ability to change everything that ought to be free and open grace into bitter conquest, possession, and obsession. The Book of Acts and some of Paul’s Epistles show how things ought to have been and to have continued to be‑why not? Giving is the general rule in all relationships. It conforms perfectly to the application of grace. The holding of goods in common by the community is the normal result of the disparaging of money. But this does not last.

The traditional theory is that these first believers were constructing an “eschatological” community, that they believed that the end of the world was imminent, that they could thus live in common and spend their time in prayer, not working but living off what others had made. But when these resources were exhausted, what then? They had to come back into line, working like the rest, earning their keep. This rather highfalutin story of a community of goods then has to come to an end. I am not satisfied at all, however, with this type of explanation, which is marked by such flat banality and gross common sense. In the course of the church’s history there have been periodic repetitions of such communities, and I know of some today. The real question is a different one. When the spiritual tone, or intensity, if one will, is strong and faith is vital and brotherly love is resurgent, money is no problem. Money becomes dominant only when men and women really cease to hope or believe and enter into routines and conformities. The Christian life is not a matter of having but of being spiritual in Christ. When this is weak, having immediately becomes dominant. Mammon sets up its law in the church precisely to the degree that the church loses its relationship with Jesus Christ. But Mammon is a power that waits patiently for faith to fail. In its abundance it prevents faith from coming to birth. The logic is implacable. What use is faith or hope when we have everything and need only a little more to spend? Mammon with its satisfactions (everything may be bought) and its law (nothing for nothing, or no free lunch) builds up around us an impenetrability to grace. Christians have experienced this in every age.

Why is it so difficult to focus on Christ during the Christmas season? Advent is a penitential season, a season of examination and expectation, a season of quiet, hopeful waiting. Yet it seems impossible to live this season outside of a monastery. Traffic, noise, busyness, adornamentation, wish-lists (argh! to do away with the evil of the wish-list for Christmas! Christ has given himself completely to us; how dare we think we need or even desire anything more?), spend and buy and eat and drink and be merry and be busy and don’t slow down or you’ll be behind.

I continue to say, Save Christ from Christmas! Bad music, bad clothing, bad decorations. Teaching children all the wrong lessons, instilling them with the worst expectations. Was it for this that Jesus became the bread of the world?

How have we gotten so far away? Kierkegaard and Ellul were right: Christendom is the exact opposite of gospel Christianity. American Christendom even more so (more the opposite? is such a thing possible?). The true god of the season is greed/luxury. Celebrate the economy. Celebrate the capitalist virtues. Celebrate Jesus for one day when we ignore him all year.

The Christmas season does not start the day after Thanksgiving. It starts on Christmas Day and runs for 12 days. We have it completely backward. But do we care?

Christ be honored and glorified in spite of it all. May our hearts and minds return again to the bread of the world, born in the House of Bread (Beth-Lehem) and lying in the feeding trough. Eat of him and live eternally. Glory to God, Peace to mankind. O come, o come….